May & Baker

May & Baker Eastbrook Community FC, or May & Baker as the club is more commonly known, is a non-league club based in Romford, east London that was formed as M&B Club playing at the M&B Sports and Social Club in Dagenham.

The social club is close to the May & Baker factory; which produced chemicals. The team competed in the Essex Business Houses Football League in the 2005-06 season before progressing to Division Three of the Essex Olympian League.

A runners-up berth in their inaugural season led to promotion to Division Two, which was consequently renamed Division One. In 2007-08 May & Baker ended second in the league to seal promotion to the Premier Division.

A demotion followed despite finishing outside the relegation places, but the club soon reclaimed their Premier Division status following a title winning season in 2009-10. A change of name to May & Baker Eastbrook Community followed in 2014.

May & Baker won the Essex Junior Cup in 2016-17 before becoming members of the enlarged Eastern Counties League for the 2018-19 campaign, where the club was placed in Division One South, with home games being played at Barking Rugby Club on Gale Street in Dagenham.

May & Baker Eastbrook Community will play in the Eastern Counties League Division One South in the 2018-19 season.

My visit

May & Baker 0 Swaffham Town 1 (Sunday 4^th November 2018) FA Vase Second Round (att: 162)

I’d been in a state of flux whether to make the effort to cross London on a chilly Sunday. I had plenty of work to complete for the forthcoming Siam International Cricket Sevens which I was heavily involved in the administration of.

Hendon’s defeat the previous day at Salisbury and the long journey intertwined with struggling with sleep around my shift patterns was making me tired and irritable. In the end I did all the work I could before downing tools. There was another incentive to make the effort.

A good cricket pal of mine, Terry Skillett, had passed away a few days earlier. We had spent many happy times together at events in Thailand and his death had affected me more than I envisaged. Terry was originally from Barking. It just felt right to head to his home town.

The journey was longer than usual owing to planned engineering works on the tube, meaning a ride all the way to West Ham on the Jubilee line before changing to national rail to Barking. My old mate was rather harsh when describing his old manor, the last time he’d visited.

At least I thought so. To be honest, he probably had a point. It was certainly very different to the Barking he left behind. I did feel rather isolated as a white Englishman around the station as I waited for my bus further east.

Jumping out at the Goresbrook Leisure stop on the A13 I looked across to Castle Green, where a modern sculpture depicting local heroes Sir Alf Ramsey, Justin Leonard, Bobby Moore and Paralympic swimmer Beverley Gull looked down from the top of the hill.

Across the road was the entrance to Barking Rugby Club, with a friendly May & Baker official taking the £5 admission and selling programmes for £1 from a desk near to the changing rooms. It was soon evident that the crowd would include many fellow groundhoppers.

It was only 2pm so I headed upstairs to enjoy a couple of pints of well kept Legacy from the Brentwood Brewery at a very reasonable £3.40. I know football fans with low opinions of rugby folk, but they certainly know how to provide facilities.

They can often be rugged, but they are always warm and have a good bar and catering. That goes a long way in my book. I had to strip down a few layers such was the heat in the bar; which was itself doing a roaring trade.

With kick off approaching I headed out on to the balcony where there was standing room offering a fine view. An official read out the sides, though I felt it an opportunity missed that the teams didn’t come out to Ma Baker by Boney M.

Aside from the raised standing area there was hard standing all along the near side. A covered seating stand offered a vantage point opposite, but there was no spectator room behind either end apart from access.

I’d noticed that the pitch appeared quite bumpy when I arrived. Rugby had been played on it the previous day and it hadn’t really been tended to apart from the changing of posts, football pitch lines being painted and green paint over the rugby markings.

The hosts side wore squad numbers, with both sides in fourth place in their respective divisions before kick off; with the visitors from Suffolk playing in Division One North of the same competition. A few fans had made the journey with the team.

The game lacked quality but more than made up for it in effort. Nothing too much of note had taken place on the pitch when an escalating row broke out below us. It looked like some kind of insult had been handed out from one bloke to friend and family, which another bloke took offence to.

Women, elders and even a home substitute got involved as tempers rose and an official stepped in to ask them to moderate their behaviour. The two blokes went around the side but came back later, only to start again. It was definitely more entertaining than the match.

I wasn’t the only one taking it all in. I remarked to a man next to me that it put to bed the myth that Eastenders was far fetched. We had a giggle and got chatting. He’d come from Chester specially for the game and was a Fleetwood fan back in the 1970’s.

We got talking about the Northern Premier League in the 1970’s and about my team, Scarborough. He said his only visit to the old Athletic Ground was in 1976, but he didn’t suppose I was old enough to remember it, which gave me a bit of a boost.

My eyes lit up when he said it was the FA Trophy tie with Tooting & Mitcham United. I told him the match details and recounted the wonderful winning goal from Jeff Barmby. The odds on the subject coming up must have been around a billion to one but it made my day.

Meanwhile, back out on the pitch Swaffham skipper Alex Vincent saw a shot go wide before Dean Hall had an effort for the hosts which was saved by Tommy Rix in the visitors’ net before the first half petered out.

The players who stood out to me as the game continued were Okus Connor and Hoxhaj Beshr for May & Baker and Swaffham’s Vincent. The game was played in good spirit and was end to end but missing that one piece of excellence to break the deadlock.

Rix pulled off a couple of brilliant saves; one of which from Okus. The resulting corner was headed wide by Sam Dickins. It was looking for all money that the game was going to extra time. The ‘hoppers’ around me were less than impressed with the prospect!

On eighty nine minutes Swaffham broke down the left through substitute Luke Reed. His fine run set up Joe Jackson with an absolute sitter. Somehow the striker put his effort wide of a gaping goal with keeper Michael Gooch helpless.

The groans and even profanities from the assembled crowd were most audible. It’s a good job many weren’t supporters of Swaffham or I’d hate to have heard their reactions! However, Jackson was soon to make amends.

He went on a run of his own, with his shot being parried by Gooch. Reed was on hand to slam the ball home to the delight of everyone apart from the smattering of home fans. I said my goodbyes and made my way downstairs and to the gate.

Right on full time I made a dash and went down through the underpass to jump on a bus to Beckton station, which took longer than I imagined and then the DLR and Jubilee line home. It hadn’t been a great game, but I was glad I made the effort, nonetheless.

Afterall, it’s not every day you get the chance to chat about a Jeff Barmby winner from forty two years previously. My old mate Terry would have shaken his head and laughed out loud.